flogged them with three rattans twisted together 'till they were
apparently dead; then hoisted them up to the mast-head, and left them
hanging nearly an hour, then lowered them down, and repeated the
punishment, 'till they died or complied with the oath.

October the 20th, in the night, an express-boat came with the
information that a large mandarine fleet was proceeding up the river to
attack us. The chief immediately weighed, with fifty of the largest
vessels, and sailed down the river to meet them. About one in the
morning they commenced a heavy fire till daylight, when an express was
sent for the remainder of the fleet to join them: about an hour after a
counter-order to anchor came, the mandarine fleet having run. Two or
three hours afterwards the chief returned with three captured vessels in
tow, having sunk two, and eighty-three sail made their escape. The
admiral of the mandarines blew his vessel up, by throwing a lighted
match into the magazine as the Ladrones were boarding her; she ran on
shore, and they succeeded in getting twenty of her guns.

In this action very few prisoners were taken: the men belonging to the
captured vessels drowned themselves, as they were sure of suffering a
lingering and cruel death if taken after making resistance. The admiral
left the fleet in charge of his brother, the second in command, and
proceeded with his own vessel towards Lantow. The fleet remained in
this river, cutting paddy, and getting the necessary supplies.

On the 28th of October, I received a letter from Captain Kay, brought by
a fisherman, who had told him he would get us all back for three
thousand dollars. He advised me to offer three thousand, and if not
accepted, extend it to four; but not farther, as it was bad policy to
offer much at first: at the same time assuring me we should be
liberated, let the ransom be what it would. I offered the chief the
three thousand, which he disdainfully refused, saying he was not to be
played with; and unless they sent ten thousand dollars, and two large
guns, with several casks of gunpowder, he would soon put us all to
death. I wrote to Captain Kay, and informed him of the chief's
determination, requesting if an opportunity offered, to send us a shift
of clothes, for which it may be easily imagined we were much distressed,
having been seven weeks without a shift; although constantly exposed to
the weather, and of course frequently wet.

On the first of November, the fleet